


Written In Stone (However Altered) - Season 1

by socksAF



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fix-It, I like Lotor and Matt and Adam and Shay so they get to be actual people and not plot points in this, M/M, Other, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:28:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23679916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/socksAF/pseuds/socksAF
Summary: A series following the adventures of the Paladins of Voltron who learn to work together to form the giant robot and use it to defeat evil in far away galaxies, except the creator isn't swayed by media or homophobia and actually cares about the characters and their diverse backgrounds while also not forcing relationships to fill some sort of quota.This is a fix-it fic because I was unsatisfied with the whole show, especially the last 3 seasons, and they deserve a proper rounded story, so if that means rewatching everything and going through every single old interview and everything published surrounding the show, so be it. This fic follows the strict story line of the show, since that is considered canon, with slight deviations where it is necessary for the fixes to make sense, and a retold ending, but that's explained later.I own none of these characters, they strictly belong to DreamWorks Animations.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Allura/Lance (Voltron), Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Coran & Voltron Paladins, Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Voltron Paladins & Voltron Paladins
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	Written In Stone (However Altered) - Season 1

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter follows an episode, and will start according to where the last chapter ended.  
> Please forgive spelling errors, I promise one day I'll proof read again.  
> Be kind, and thank you!

(0:22)

Takashi Shirogane had great respect for Samuel Holt, and it wasn’t only for his personal gain, nor experience. He had been trained by the man, the last course he ever took as a cadet; Understanding We Are Not Alone: An In Depth Analysis of Alien Life & Human Contact Throughout History. He had passed him in the halls, had a handful of lectures where Dr. Holt would stop in and give his speech, had spoken with him on multiple occasions because of his excitement and ability to learn, and had even bonded over not knowing what to do with their students who weren’t so competent in their abilities (once Shiro became a Junior Officer), but it was Samuel who had said that he wouldn’t be going to space either, if Shiro wan’t joining, and had encouraged his own son to stay back in solidarity if Shiro wasn’t reconsidered, and that sat high as one of the most respectful things Shiro had ever had done for him. 

Stepping off the platform for the first time, not feeling the confines of the craft, and finally having the space to spread his arms out wide, Shiro felt free. Yes, he had the job to do, and he must stay close to the Holts to assure that his job as pilot wasn’t for naught, but he hadn’t felt so calm as before he knew there would be a Kerberos mission. It was odd, not overthinking, just simply existing in the moment. He turned and saw Matt doing nearly the same thing for a stretch, except he was buzzing with excitement, and completely abusing the anti-grav to be able to jump up and down, waiting for his father to complete his descent. 

“Whatch’a think, Shiro? Nice view, huh?”, came through his comms, hardly breaking his calmness at all. 

“I could get used to this.” 

“Alright gang, let's get this ice loaded up and processed so we can find out what’s going on out here,” Sam called, far too chipper as he hopped lightly to the planet’s surface. Shiro took another deep breath, then turned to help his crew.

(0:31)  
+++  
(2:04)

He felt an overwhelming sense of urgency to protect the two others, clearly still knocked out. 

His arm hurt. He wanted his mom.

He wanted to go home.

(2:09)  
+++  
(5:05)

Lance was humiliated. He was slightly proud of the fact he hadn’t tripped over his words while in the simulator, but he had managed to crash again this time, something he was desperately trying to change. He had seen actual fighter pilots do stuff like that, why couldn’t he pull it off?

He really couldn’t blame Hunk for what he had done, since they bunked together and Lance was fully aware of the sensitivity of his stomach, but Ryan and Kate had engine techs that didn’t throw up while playing video games or eating spicy foods, and he wasn’t going to lie and say he wasn’t disappointed that he didn’t have a more motion willing mechanic. He loved Hunk though, and he was thrilled to be working with someone who knew him so well, and someone so competent in their duties, so it balanced out eventually, since “everyone is fighting their own battles, mijo, it’s not alright to judge solely on your experience,” was drilled into his head by his mama, and he wasn’t going to start ignoring her now. 

As they walked back to the group of waiting cadets, Pidge slid away from them to stand more in the back, leading to Lance craning his neck to follow him, and having an officer come up behind him and set his posture again, then receive another scolding about paying attention and actually learning something. Ironically, he didn’t focus on what she was saying enough to really understand her, so he just kept a straight face and apologized afterwards. 

The class was long, and strangely boring for a space school, but thankfully it was the last one of the day, so he and Hunk tried to track down Pidge for some squad bonding time, only they were unable to and gave up after a handful of minutes in favour of the lukewarm spaghetti with tomato sauce in the canteen, something Hunk asked far too many preparation questions about and Lance wondered yet again why people make boring foods. And also he wondered about stupid, smart, dropout Keith and if he was truly missing out on the sad pasta, but after finshing the plate, he concluded that no, Keith was honestly probably better off. With that, and Hunk’s refined and updated recipe handed over to the head cook with his criticism, they returned to their dorm to contact their families, something Lance did every night via video chat just so he could see what he was missing out on. 

(5:10)  
+++  
(6:16)

Keith spent 10 months alone in the desert, eating ramen and things from cans, and sometimes produce if he could scrounge up the cash, enough to prevent scurvy at least. It was all in his transformed shed/garage, something his dad built just for Keith before he lost all of his strength and died. The house had been long since abandoned and torn down, but Keith couldn’t find it in himself to be disappointed, since he had no crazy connection to it, just the memories inside, which even now remained sparse. It was quiet, and secluded, and close enough to the Garrison to monitor their actions and prove them wrong about Shiro. He had his books, he was desperately working on his patience, 

Pilot error, his ass. He was getting his brother back. 

He had to.

The explosives were in place daisy chain style, and he had a window of about 90 seconds to get in and out of whatever had crash landed. Keith was desperate, and if he needed to hijack some alien stuff to find out where Shiro was, so be it. 

(10:03)  
+++  
(10:10)

Hunk hated Keith. No, that’s a lie; he had had classes with Keith when they were first starting at the Garrison and he was always “act first, talk second, think after”, but Hunk wasn’t dumb enough to argue that Keith wasn’t the most naturally gifted pilot in their year, because he simply was. Sure, others worked hard to be good, but Keith aced the simulator first try whereas most other pilots in the class could hardly keep the mock craft from barreling towards the mock grass. 

He hated the idea of Keith, the constant listening of Lance fuming to anyone that Keith was out to get him and ruin his life, where really he was just awkward and had no social skills. He hated the constant hum of Lance talking to his mom about “that mullet jerk that I told you about” and her “ah, si”. 

He didn’t hate Keith - but he sure hated Lance’s Keith. 

He also tended to make Lance incredibly chaotic, due to the feud, which is not what you want when there’s potentially a dangerous situation featuring aliens, a missing captain and whatever a Voltron is. 

(10:20)  
+++  
(10:46)

He had no clue his name was Lance - he just recognized his face from when they were all taking basic introduction courses all together, before their year got split into specialties.

He kinda always thought his name was Taylor, based on the way the big man and “Lance” talked about their classes. However, it had been a while since Keith had seen anyone but the grocery clerk and Adam, so maybe it just left his brain, similar to where he had put the key to the mailbox. 

(11:06)  
+++  
(12:27)

They somehow made it back to Keith’s shack in one piece, Shiro still passed out from drugs or something in Pidge’s lap, and it took far longer than anyone would like to admit to get him inside and on Keith’s bed. Then they just kinda left him to wake up naturally, and sat in the main room, catching Keith up on Garrison drama, how his leaving affected everyone, and weirdly mundane things before eventually falling into a suffocating silence, leading all of the trio to cram onto the sofa and catch the end of their night of rest, while Keith went to his room and sat in an old desk chair aimed at the bed hospital style, and let his eyes rest while he dozed. 

When Shiro eventually awoke, he was startled by a nightmare enough to mess with his breathing, and before he could even figure out where he was, Keith was at his side and softly stating that he was okay, and safe, and while it didn’t help a ton, it did ground him slightly. With a sad smile, Keith offered him a clean towel and some clothes that looked far too large to be his own, meaning they must be his father’s, but Shiro accepted them with only slight hesitation and making his way to the bathroom for a shower. 

+++  
(13:11)

“I’m sorry, when you were what from the Garrison?”

“Well think about it, Shiro, the only reason I was allowed to even be there was because you begged for me to be accepted. They were waiting for any opportunity to throw me out, so when I started talking back after they declared the team dead, I was out the next hour.” Keith admitted factually, making Hunk look down in sadness and Pidge look at him with a very intense curiosity, because everyone had surely heard of the Garrison dropout, the small cadet had probably never heard the story, not to mention they were all getting a first hand account of what had happened.

“What about Adam? He must have helped.”

“He did - tried. I didn’t make it easy on him and he was going through some stuff.” Keith made himself stronger

“Hey, what did you actually do to get kicked, we were never really told,” Lance spoke up, while Shiro shook his head in a disappointed understanding.

“Did Iverson ever come back?”

“Yeah, he gave me shit for everything. Almost everyone really, except maybe my sister.”

“Anything new from a year ago?”

A beat of silence, everyone staring at each other, eventually gravitating back towards Keith. Suddenly, Pidge cried out and Hunk’s jaw fell open. 

“Oh my god!” Keith smirked.

“What?” Lance looked around lost, “what am I missing?”

“Keith mutilated an officer!” was cried from Hunk, who had eyes growing rapidly in size. 

“Anyways”, was all Keith responded with, leaving Lance to sit staring at the hothead with a new kind of interest. 

+++  
(18:14)

Lance felt comforted, which was kind of weird to feel for almost no reason, but the lion was trying to tell him something, and it reminded him of home, so he didn’t feel afraid to be there anymore. It was like he was meant to be there, and that was a nice feeling.

(18:17)  
+++  
(18:33)

Keith may have asked for his trust, but he would rather have died three times over than keep flying at the hands of the cargo pilot. Always wreck the simulator? He looked over at Shiro, who was holding tight to the seat but not backing down from the fight, and even in their terrible, terrible situation behind and with Lance, he figured they would be okay. Once they got away from the laser beam guns, that is. 

(20:52)  
+++  
(28:33)

Coran looked at the command center, something greatly familiar to him, but now holding a very heavy connotation. If their planet was destroyed, there was a good chance that Draylin could have escaped from the castle, but judging as he wasn’t essential, simply a mid tier soldier, the chances of that happening at all were slim. If not even the King had managed to leave, he was certain his son was not amongst the lucky, if there were any at all. And if he had been saved, it was 10,000 years too late to go back and comfort him, to hold him in his arms, to say once more that he was loved, to do anything for him. If he was saved, he most likely died alone. If he wasn’t, he died most likely swiftly but brutally, and Coran wasn’t sure of which he wished had happened more. 

Their whole population was gone: vanished, deceased, forgotten. Altea was now a complete fable, something made up and ridiculous. As he looked at Allura, he knew she was thinking the same thing - about her friends, her father, her caretaker, the chef, - all of them, gone. Swiped from the universe. 

His heart grew heavy, but he could not focus on his grief. Not yet. He needed to give them a proper memoriam. 

(31:11)  
+++  
(36:48)

The lazy river and the calming air of the planet reminded him of his home, nestled in a tiny apartment above the busy streets of New Orleans with his parents. Lush plants lined the walls, a constant swinging noise of the violinist next door, or the flowing cafe below them who had live blues every day after 3 pm, the tap tap of the dancer upstairs - the solid tap shoes cracking against the floor in a rhythmic fashion, dancing along with his mother’s silk work. The scent of fresh apples from the kitchen and blossoms from his parent’s bedroom, reminding them of the life they left back in Asahi. 

(37:10)  
+++  
(46:29)

“What time would you think it is right now back home?”, Lance wondered, sitting horizontally on the horseshoe shaped cushion and crossing his knees. 

“My watch says 5:30 but I don’t know if that’s day or night,” piped Hunk, sitting near his friend’s head and looking down at the soft beeping coming from his wrist, “also my batteries are dying so it might also be incorrect all together.” 

“Thanks, man.” Shiro sat down, back ever so slightly shrugging and crossed his ankles, sharing a look with Keith who was leaning up against the wall and examining some lint he had pulled from his jacket pocket.

“No worries.” 

Pidge sat near the door, staring down at the mock control center hologram projection in front of him with an emotionless expression, before bursting with a “who has their phones on them?” Hunk checked his pockets before letting his features twist into a slight annoyance while pulling out light scrap metal in his hand, and a completely shattered screen fell to the ground in a soft shower. He shared a look with Lance who shrugged and stated he thought they were going out and didn’t want to disfigure his hip area with a phone. Keith shook his head, and everyone knew Shiro didn’t even have his own clothes on his back, let alone anything that belonged to him so intimately as a phone. “Huh. A group full of teens and a young adult, with not a single working cellular between us; what a story for the ages. Tell your grandma, Lance.”

“Lita got over that, Pidge - you were there when I called and said she was on level 137 of CandyCrush and that we couldn’t talk because I would only ‘distract her from her success’. She’s a strong supporter of phones now.”

“Interesting.”

“Paladins,” Coran called, whisking into the room, “I’m here to call you back to the Deck, please.”

(48:10)  
+++  
(48:32) 

Lance was scared, which was something he hardly ever admitted out loud, but all this talk of destiny and doing what’s right was first) giving him a headache and second) stressing him out beyond belief. He had seen Keith stand up straighter and lean back slightly, and Hunk start fiddling with his hands, so he knew he wasn’t alone, but the space princess seemed to be staring him right in the eye when talking about sending them to war so yeah, he was struggling a bit. But one battle, maybe two because the Galra seemed relentless, and then he could go home, and since this was technically what he was training for, it didn’t seem completely daunting. 

(48:35)  
+++  
(56:38)

He had a nightmare just like this when he was 3, and it took his dad almost the whole night to calm him down, cuddling up in his brand new toddler bed, soothing whatever had scared him so badly. Really all Keith remembered from that night was how long his dad could name constellations and planets, various moons and suchlike, and how suddenly the vast expanse of space was less scary now that he knew the names of everything he might encounter in the Milky Way. However, this was different, because he was thrown into a war, and there were fighter jets surrounding him, and he had to bond with something that has no desire to reciprocate - quite similar to school and the Garrison actually.

This thought process was cut short when he slammed into the metal of the lion’s mouth, and felt a calming sensation roll over him, like a campfire crackling deep in the woods. So that’s what Lance meant.

(56:50)  
+++  
(1:06:16)

There was a sinking feeling in Lance’s stomach, that they were going to have to do what they just did a few more times than anticipated before they could go home. So his general plan was enjoy it while you can, and think of those that you will be returned to only with fondness. What a new adventure. To the Defenders of the Universe. 

(1:06:46)  
+++

“What the cheese? Really?”

Lance let out a soft chuckle, looking up at Keith’s confused facial expression, before turning to look at Pidge, who had also recently cleaned up and joined the rest of the team in the horseshoe room. “The first week at the Garrison, Hunk was in our room and watching one of those drug prevention or awareness videos, and I walked in just as one of the kids was like, ‘cocaine? What the cheese?’ and I laughed so hard that I tripped backwards and gave myself a concussion.”

“That sounds awful.” 

“It wasn’t,” Keith answered to Pidge before Lance could reply. “What was awful was the wildfire effect through the whole of the first years after that moment. I heard that every single day at least once until my third year.”

“Mullet, it’s our legacy.”

“Fantastic. I’m going to bed, if I can find it.”

“Keith’s right, team. We’ve had a long day, and you all must be at least mentally tired.” Shiro’s soft voice was very nice to hear post battle, and in that moment, Lance made it his ‘after-saving-the-universe celebration’ was to follow Shiro around for as long as he could before retiring. 

As they all settled into their new and slightly uncomfortable beds in a strange castle with intense lighting even when dimmed in space, and a singular soft blanket, each thought the exact thing;

Here’s to the first day of the adventure of a lifetime.


End file.
